ABR Driver Design The ribbon tweeter is aligned with Quad’s Kevlar-coned bass and midrange drivers through sophisticated crossover networks. While the stand mount models use carefully tuned, rear-firing reflex ports to augment the bass, the floor standers are unusual in incorporating three ABRs (Auxiliary Bass Radiators) in place of a port. These passive, rear-firing bass units support the main drivers to extend bass response down to 35Hz whilst maintaining an accurate and articulate rendition of instrument fundamentals.
Delicate Sound, Powerful Delivery While many ribbon drivers are delicate, easily prone to burning out if overpowered, the new ribbon unit developed for the S Series is a thoroughly modern affair, utilising the latest techniques and materials. The ribbon itself is a sandwich construction, making it robust enough to handle high-powered amplifiers, and is fully immersed in a powerful magnetic field so that it accomplishes its dual role of being both the voice coil and sound radiator.
Furniture Quality Woodwork Beautifully presented with rounded top edges at the front and rear, each speaker cabinet uses a sandwich construction of alternate layers of MDF and high-density particleboard to reduce panel resonance to below the level of audibility. Aesthetically, the look is classically Quad, yet subtly updated, available initially in black or sapele mahogany wood veneers. These will be joined in the autumn by premium, hand-laquered piano white and piano black finish options.
The history of Quad is one of technical achievement in the field of sound reproduction. It is a story that began with the Quad 1 amplifier, which brought the benefits of 15 years knowledge and experience in professional audio and industrial products to the task of making the most accurate domestic audio amplifier of its age.A few years later, in 1953, the product which set the standard for amplifiers was the Quad II Power Amplifier, the time of Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation and the year in which Mount Everest was finally conquered. This amplifier pioneered the principle of cathode coupling through the output transformer to reduce harmonic distortion to almost negligible levels. Such was its clear superiority that this model remained in production for 18 years. Three years later, in 1956, Quad demonstrated the first true full-range electrostatic loudspeaker. This remarkable product (known later as the ESL 57) used a virtually mass-less plastic film as a moving diaphragm between two charged plates. Compared with moving coil loudspeakers, the ESL 57 was free of unwanted colourations and distortions. This landmark product remained in production, virtually unchanged, for 28 years.
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